Masood Mir - Stevens Creek Subaru San Jose, CA

[ScoobyRoo]

We're in a somewhat unusual situation, in that buying either in WA or CA will work out for us...we're spending our time between both locations for the next few months. Since our new vehicle will be registered in WA, I started with Joe Spitz at Carter Subaru - the cars101 guy that is mentioned here and elsewhere.

Joe's a great guy, providing tons of good info and a no hassle price. He had a 2012 3.6R Limited that was pretty close to what we wanted coming in - for $250 over invoice. He stated he'd try and match any price we found lower.

In looking at the "Top Salespeople" thread here, I saw Masood Mir mentioned down at Stevens Creek Subaru in San Jose. I tracked down his email address, and sent him the specs of what we were looking for. Basically, the same car Joe had coming in, but with a few more options.

He called back, and wowed us pretty good. Not only was he cheaper ($250 under invoice), but as luck would have it, he had the exact car we wanted coming in that could still have options installed at the port if we committed that day. For those of you who don't know - having options installed at the port instead of the dealer, gives you the opportunity to save quite a bit of money. The dealer has no labor expenses with port installed options.

So - with nothing other than a phone call from me committing to the purchase, Masood changed the port installed options on the incoming car, and emailed me a PDF confirmation of the new build sheet. We had to wait a few weeks, but we're basically getting a car ordered to our exact specs, for $250 under invoice. Masood has been awesome to deal with - he either answers the phone directly, or promptly returns calls/emails. Zero funny business so far.

I say so far, as we're scheduled to pick up the car next week. I'll follow up after doing so with a final report.

Were it not for the ability to get the vehicle tailored exactly to our specs from Masood, I'd have had no problem going with Joe up at Carter. Both of these guys seem like straight shooters.

[subiesailor]

Going with CA purchased car also removes the contentious attitude CA DMV takes if a new car was bought outside of the state if you end up moving here etc. That is till the car has 7500 miles or more on it which case CA could care less.

Also Subaru's are popular in the Bay Area but lack that extra "ITS A SUBARU" attitude you find in Washington St which translates to bigger price tags for some reason. So the price difference makes sense.

[The111]

FYI, I got around 3% under invoice at Capitol Subaru (the other dealer in San Jose) just a month ago. Granted it was on 2.5i with no options, so your situation with a unique model may make bargaining a bit harder, and maybe you've made a deal already (and if so $250 under invoice is still pretty good). But if not maybe you can use this knowledge to your advantage somehow and save a couple more bucks.

[ScoobyRoo]

Originally Posted by The111

FYI, I got around 3% under invoice at Capitol Subaru (the other dealer in San Jose) just a month ago.

That's a great price...congrats.

Don't know if such a deal could be made on a loaded 3.6R Limited, though - I looked around most of the West Coast from SF up to Seattle last month, and there weren't a ton of them around. Not sure if that has changed since then, although the backup from the stop ship problem might result in a temporary glut of inventory.

Prior to striking up the deal with Masood, I forwarded Joe Spitz's price (which was $500 more than I paid) to three other Bay Area dealers other than Stevens Creek - Walnut Creek, Oakland and Marin. None would match it.

[The111]

Originally Posted by ScoobyRoo

That's a great price...congrats.

Don't know if such a deal could be made on a loaded 3.6R Limited, though - I looked around most of the West Coast from SF up to Seattle last month, and there weren't a ton of them around. Not sure if that has changed since then, although the backup from the stop ship problem might result in a temporary glut of inventory.

Prior to striking up the deal with Masood, I forwarded Joe Spitz's price (which was $500 more than I paid) to three other Bay Area dealers other than Stevens Creek - Walnut Creek, Oakland and Marin. None would match it.

Yeah, sounds like you did your homework. Anything below invoice is always a win as far as I'm concerned. I have friends that bought a 2011 last year for around MSRP, it was the best deal they could find in their area and they were moving and didn't have time to shop around.

So, comparatively your deal is a great one! Now hopefully the other issue (master cylinder) comes together for you quickly (and hopefully I find out I'm not affected by it too!).

[ScoobyRoo]

To close the loop on this one...took delivery yesterday on our 3.6 Limited, and a big thumbs up for Masood.



Getting good service under "normal" circumstances, is one thing...but when problems arise, one really gets to see what a dealer is made of.

We got caught up in the "stop ship" situation - our vehicle was slated for delivery on the 11/22, but was affected by the master cylinder recall. While certainly frustrating, the situation wasn't the dealer's fault.

Masood kept us in the loop with every update he could pull from the factory. And, when the car finally did arrive - he had it prepped, master cylinder replaced and ready for delivery within 4 hours of it hitting his lot.

Add to the above - he handled a rather atypical registration process (bought in CA, registered in WA) with ease. And, even though we got a screaming deal - he didn't just take our check, shake our hand and send us on our way. Started out with a test drive of the vehicle, and ended with a good 20-30 minutes of discussion in the car going over features, pairing phones, etc.

Settling up the deal with the finance guy (Erik), was equally low key. He did offer us up the typical extended warranty/service contracts, but wasn't a hard sell, and the prices were reasonable for those who would want them (we opted out.)

Can't speak for the rest of the sales folks at Stevens Creek - but if you work with Masood, I'm sure you'll be as happy as we were with the experience.